RATING GUIDE:
5 – A keeper!
4 – Very good
3 – Passable
2 – I’d rather read a telephone book
1 – An absolute bomb.
Read at your own risk!
After reading EL James’ Fifty
Shades trilogy, I decided to do something which I never, ever thought of
doing, until now … and no, I’m not talking about engaging in “kinky fuckery,”
Ana Steele’s favorite pastime. I
decided I would try reading … are you ready for this? … a spicy romance book …
actually four romance books … in Tagalog!
I have to admit that while I am
what you would consider a hopeless (hopeful?) romantic, just like majority of
the Filipinos out there, I don’t really enjoy reading romance novels. Give me sappy love songs anytime, I’ll take
it. You want me to watch Filipino and
Korean telenovelas? Sure! But make me read a romance novel? Are you kidding me? I’d rather read a cookbook.
As a child, I remember being
exposed to all sorts of reading material.
My parents made sure I had plenty to read (probably so I won’t bother
them), and I remember having access to my storybooks, as well as grown-up
material, such as komiks, newspapers, magazines and books, books, books!
My dad was a wide reader. He read everything, and I mean everything,
and his reading fare included … get this … Mills and Boone and Filipino romance
novels! Since I was allowed to read
pretty much anything I wanted, I gave those romance novels a try. But I guess I was just too young to
appreciate romance back then. Besides,
I was (still am!) a pretty big nerd.
So, romance novels have never really been a must-have addition to my
book collection.
But like I said, I became curious
about spicy romance novels in Tagalog, following my (agonizing) read of the Fifty
Shades trilogy. I began to
wonder. Are these romance novels better
than the Fifty Shades trilogy?
Are they more romantic than sexy, or more sexy than romantic … are they
even romantic or sexy at all? Most
important of all, are they any good?
I didn’t really want to spend a
lot of money on this reading experiment, so I picked up the cheapest books I
could find. And I found four books by
this author named Dior Madrigal, all for the happy price of P32 each.
The books are all part of what
Dior Madrigal calls the Palikeros series, and it’s the story of four
very different types of women, who meet and eventually fall in love with four
men, “palikeros” who also happen to be friends with each other. The first book in the series, The Playboy
and his Secretary, is the story of a one-time student activist named
Agatha, who is forced to give up her big dreams of changing the world in favor
of being a secretary to Michael, her very arrogant boss. The second book, The Playboy and his Wife,
is the story of Agatha’s sweet and sensitive sister, Leila, who is forced to
marry the best friend of Agatha’s boss, Nathan, after they accidentally slept
together (is there really such a thing?).
The third book, The Playboy and his Fiancee, is the story of
Sasha, a submissive, idealistic girl, who falls in love with the man her family
wants her to marry, Kevin, who isn’t exactly the marrying type. The last book, The Playboy and his First
Love, is the love story of an older woman,
Alyssa, who is reunited with Ashton, her one-time friend and lover, and
the man she betrayed (or so it seems).
Compared to EL James’ trilogy,
which tests your gag reflex, the Palikero series is very safe
material. You won’t read anything about
bondage, playrooms or butt plugs here.
Nothing to offend anyone, unless you’re hyper-conservative and the
thought of pre-marital sex makes you mad.
In this book series, none of the female characters make it to the last
page with their virginity intact.
It’s quite respectful of Pinoy
sensibilities, you won’t find any of the characters trying to act like a Brown
American. Except Agatha, who at first
seems very pragmatic about losing her virginity (she only thinks of it as a
membrane) and gives her virginity up to Michael because he’s the first man she
feels horny about. And yet, the way
it’s written, you don’t really feel that it’s so. Despite her bravado, Agatha is just like the other women in the
series. She only gives her heart and
her body to the only man she loves.
Of course, none of the men are
virgins, either. Almost all of the male
leads actually sleep around, until they meet the female characters who make
them give up the chase and settle down.
As for the females, while none of
them start out as a clueless virgin like Ana Steele was, they’re actually less
… what’s the word … wanton?
Slutty? Sexually
adventurous? In fact, the naughtiest
scene I ever came across in this series was the strip tease that Agatha
performed for her boss for money (now, the money part was supposedly empowering
since Agatha DECIDED she would accept her boss’ offer to strip for money, but
it still icked me out). Whatever
sexcapades there are in the book are actually quite tame, amd the most risqué
sexual moves have the women indulging themselves a little by going “woman on
top” to claim their sexual pleasure.
As far as storylines go, the Palikero
series is pretty safe and predictable, which is to be expected, I
suppose. It is part of the romance
genre, after all, no mattery how “spicy” it’s supposed to be. I can almost picture each of the books as a
short “tapusan” TV series in my head.
You know, the kind that can be finished in a week’s time. They’re easy material for commercial TV or
movies.
I know the books are
inexpensive. Still, I would have
preferred a little more “meat” than what the books offered. If these books were a value meal, I’d say
they’re “bitin.” Just when you’re
starting to get into the story (no matter if it’s commercial), just when you’re
starting to take notice of the characters, the story is finished.
And although I understand that
not everyone is good in English, I was still disappointed that the English
portions in this book contained a number of mistakes, grammar-wise. Polishing it up a little more would have made
it a much better reading experience. I
would also have appreciated a little more variety in the sex. Really.
Since I didn’t have any
expectations when I began reading this series, I’d say, the books deliver what
they’re supposed to deliver for thirty-two bucks. They’re actually like value meals. Or fishballs.
Inexpensive, passable in taste, but ultimately “bitin.”
